Meet Me In St Louis

An early wake up call, a stop at McDonalds for breakfast and we were at the Cahokia Mounds State Park (10 miles east of St Louis) at just after 8:00 AM. A 5:20 AM thunderstorm helped with the wake up, but by the time we arrived at Cahokia the weather was very nice, a little overcast but cool with a nice breeze.

Cahokia was a Native American city dating back to 1150 AD. The population of Cahokia at that time was about 15,000 people, about the same as the population of London and Paris at that time. In fact Cahokia was the largest city in the USA until Philadelphia passed it in the late 1800s. Cahokia had about 27 mounds with Monks Mound, the largest, growing to 100 feet high and taking up about 13 acres and containing over 21 million cubic feet of dirt (all hauled in baskets by hand).

Monks Mound

Mary on Steps to Monks Mound

Grand Plaza from Monks Mound

The visitor's center had a great video and displays to teach us about the growth and ultimate decline of Cahokia. We also saw some interesting plants and even a Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

Thistle Flower

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

We even caught a glimpse of our next destination...the Gateway Arch in St Louis.

St Louis Skyline from Monks Mound

After our visit to the Cahokia Mounds we headed for downtown St Louis and a visit to the Gateway Arch. The Gateway Arch was erected in 1963 as the Jefferson Expansion Memorial. Designed by Finnish architect Eero Saarinen the arch reaches a height of 630 feet. We limited our visit to the outside of the arch because of the incredibly long lines at the entrance to the visitor's center.

Gateway Arch

Gateway Arch from Below

Old Courthouse

After lunch and our visit to the arch we headed back to the Winnebago for a break and laundry. Our second thunder storm of the day happened at 4:00 PM. After the storm we headed to my favotite store, Cabela's, to restock my supply of shorts and a really neat shirt all at sale prices.